A Kentucky-bred group takes it back to their country “roots” on their debut album, “Watermelon, Chicken, & Gritz.”
Nappy Roots, a new group on Atlantic Records, is putting Kentucky on the map with its different style and simple lyrics.
The group is composed of six guys who met on the campus of Western Kentucky University in 1995.
Four of the members are from Kentucky, and the other two are from Georgia and Oakland, Calif.
The group came together because they all had one thing in common: the love of music.
With that shared characteristic, this group of friends joined together to make their dream become a reality.
Before their album release, they performed on The David Letterman Show, were featured on MTV’s Artists to Watch, named MTV’s Viewer’s Pick Video, and given an “exceptional” rating by Vibe Magazine.
In the album’s first week out, it sold 36,945 copies.
The first single, “Aw Naw” is receiving major play on the radio and on both MTV and BET.
The radio-friendly “Aw Naw” has a catchy hook and a down-home feel to it.
The entire album has a “country, dirty South” theme.
The group puts too much emphasis on them being “poor, country boys from Kentucky.”
Andre 3000 of Outkast said it best: “Everyone wants to be from the South.”
Nappy Roots seems to think that bragging on their hometown is going to sell records.
Nappy Roots does keep it real with “Ballin’ on a Budget.”
They emphasize that life is not about flashy jewelry, expensive cars and houses, and model-like females.
They do what they can with the money that they have.
On the bonus track, “The Lounge,” the group sounded too much like the old Outkast from their “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” album.
I know they are new artists, but they need to develop a style of their own.
It helps that the group members come from all over because you can hear the different sounds of each area in their music.
In some of the songs, the sounds of Outkast, the St. Lunatics, Scarface and Too Short are present.
Some of the beats have a Cali feel to them, but they definitely do have that “dirty South” sound. The blending of these sounds makes the album more diverse.